Sandy Lee

Thank you, Madam Chair. Does that mean that on net we are getting less in this fiscal year than we did two years ago? Is that a correct interpretation? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a question on a couple of items. On the first one under transfer payments, Canada health and social transfer, I noticed that the breakdown is different this year, and I'm interested in some explanation as to why that may be. Is it just a simple breakdown? In previous years, the transfer payments for health and social services were all combined. It appears to me, on this line here, for the upcoming year it has been broken down.

The second question I have on that item is could I get an explanation of the increase under this transfer from 2002-2003? Where it was...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following on that, would the Minister consider conducting a contest among the residents of the Territories? Not a huge money-spending venture, but a contest on a Web site or polling where people could click on with different ideas of what the slogans are. Maybe we could end up with the top three and then we could have a final match. Would the Minister consider something like that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could I get a breakdown on the other expenses for $2.1 million? Thank you.

Thank you very much. I think we're getting there. I have a follow-up question, Mr. Chairman. On the first, the premium cost has been reduced by $1.6 million. What is the entire amount of the premium?

My second question is if the short-term interest cost savings that we are getting in the amount of $1.7 million, could we rely on that as something that's going to stay a savings for the rest of this fiscal year? How temporary is that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So the net revenue is in the amount of $20 million after taking out the expenses.

I have another question. Where does the money that the Liquor Board gets from the fines and whatever the inspectors do when they go out to bars and give fines to establishments, does that money go into the revolving fund as well and they are available to be used as expenses prior to it being accounted for at the end as part of the surplus or whatever?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Further to that, I believe in his budget statement, Madam Chair, the Minister stated that under the proposal being put forward by the federal government on our financing formula, we would only see an increase in the base in the amount of $7.6 million, which is about one-third of what I believe this government is hoping to be able to achieve; about $18 million more annually than what the federal government is proposing. So I would like to ask the Minister whether or not that $7.6 million to the base that the federal government is proposing is for every year going back...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, I appreciate that. It was only months ago, about six months ago, that one of the last things we did in the last Assembly was to raise the tax on tobacco and alcohol. Am I wrong? I want to know what was the income generated as a result of that tax increase. Did I dream this? I am sure we passed an increase in sin tax before we dissolved. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not, given the seriousness of this issue on our financial situation and the importance of this issue in our ability to deliver health care programs to our residents in the future, what efforts has the Minister, if any, made to bring this to the attention of our partners and all the aboriginal government leaders? Would this not be something that he should consider bringing into a territorial agenda so that there is as aggressive an action on this issue as there is currently being mobilized for devolution and the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wasn’t clear on the Minister’s answer as to exactly what the increased revenue is that the government is getting as a result of the increase in taxes.